The present invention relates generally to the fields of data encryption and digital signatures, and in particular to a computer-implemented method and apparatus for automatically authenticating electronically-represented information.
With the rapid growth in popularity of personal computers (PCs) in an increasingly “Internetworked” world, it has become critical that the source, accuracy and integrity of information can be trusted and verified. Current data encryption and digital signature technologies have done much to provide the tools for building a stable foundation for such trust.
Unfortunately, existing authentication technologies are often difficult to understand and cumbersome to use, typically involving a highly-manual process requiring different tools to create a document, digitally sign it, transmit it, receive it, verify its authenticity, and finally display it. There is presently no user-friendly mechanism for automatically authenticating electronically-represented information.